Pages

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

I haven't worked on my manuscript in a month...

Um, no, there was no post on Thursday.

I'm so sorry, guys. I don't talk about much personal stuff on here (I limit that to my author's blog), but the deal was I'm quite pregnant, which makes me quite tired, which makes me quite unreliable at times.

Looks like everyone survived okay without me, and let's get on to answering questions:

A writer e-mailed me to ask, "I haven't worked on my manuscript in a month. Is that normal?"

Completely.

Here's the thing - you're human. And I'm guessing like the rest of us, you have a life. You're in school, you have homework, you have friends, a boy/girlfriend. There are TV shows you like and movies you want to see and books to read.

There's a lot going on. And it's important as writers that we experience life. Otherwise, we run dry.

But let's say you haven't had anything particular going on. Maybe you've had some free time, and you just haven't felt like writing. While frustrating, it usually means nothing. There are few things I love to do more than writing, but sometimes I'd rather play Wii instead. Because I'm a professional, I park my butt in my desk chair anyway and get my words on the page. Sometimes I bargain with myself. "A thousand words, then a brownie." Give that a try.

Now, if you're never in the mood to work on your story, if you find yourself going weeks and weeks without thinking about it, then it's time to consider that this might not be the right time for this particular project. That's okay. That happens to published writers as well. Just happened to me, actually. Fortunately, it's not something that's under contract, so I'm setting it aside and working on something else. Nothing wrong with that so long as you don't have a publishing house waiting on you.